Mesmerized by the circle and the square
At the dawning of the new year of the Dragon, I found myself consulting the many articles dealing with Chinese cosmology. Some of what I read made sense.
At the dawning of the new year of the Dragon, I found myself consulting the many articles dealing with Chinese cosmology. Some of what I read made sense.
I see sun, leaves, plants, a nipa hut, and mountains. The carefree strokes, colors, lines—I believe I’ve seen this scene more than a few times. The picture looks like every other drawing plastered on our refrigerator, cubicle and office, a reminder of how our little ones see this world.
Most travelers pass through Tarlac province without a second look, save for the requisite pit stop at a roadside combo of lavatory, gas station and restaurants.
The town of Kiangan in Ifugao is reached after a long drive through landscapes of forested mountains and rushing streams. I had the sense that we were far from everything else, but in truth we were but a few hours outside the bustling cities of the Cagayan Valley.
More than 2,000 years ago, ancestors of the Ifugao, using only primitive tools and their ingenuity, carved their mountains into what is now known as the Rice Terraces of the Cordilleras. Located 5,000 m above sea level and some 300 km from Metro Manila, the rice terraces are considered an architectural wonder unmatched anywhere in the world. Recognized by Unesco World Heritage Center as a World Heritage Site in 1995, they cover over 10,000 sq km of mountainside, and are a testament to the Ifugao spirit and their cultural heritage.
Stories are told and retold. They can enmesh a place in a net so fine that it becomes difficult to distinguish between what had transpired and what was conjured.
A walk through the village of the English bard in Stratford inspired this piece. Shakespeare is as relevant today as he was in his time, in our search for love in a world where people have grown cold and the climate is becoming abnormally and dangerously warm.
The Jim Thompson House is one of the top attractions of Bangkok. Every year, thousands of visitors come to see this lovely home which has been turned into a small museum.
As our Thai Airways airbus made its way into Thailand’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, I looked down and saw the worst-hit areas of Bangkok still submerged in floodwaters. I thought for a moment: Did we make the right decision to go ahead and pursue this long-planned post-Christmas family holiday trip, just after Thailand’s worst flooding in 50 years?
July 1898. It was a beautiful warm evening in Yokohama, Japan. Two shadowy figures were slowly and silently going down the steep hill, careful not to awaken the samurai guards.
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